I think I may have figured out why I’m mindlessly addicted to useless television and movies. I don’t think it’s these things that crave, but the addiction of procrastination itself. Things are so much more interesting when you are doing them while procrastinating on something else. But when you have nothing to procrastinate on, they are just pointless… things. I never realize how boring the things I do on a daily basis, until I get these rare moments after a stressful period when I have no important deadlines approaching.

At these moments I find everything around me… boring and pointless. Why check your emails 60 times an hour? Why do the same for Facebook, twitter, and everything else? Why watch old TV episodes? Why even read a book? Would my life change significantly if I finish this article or not? Why buy things? What’s the point of going to a nice restaurant if you can eat ramen and still be full?

I had these moments once when I passed my prelim and yesterday after doing two important yearly presentations. In both times I went to bed early after being bored with everything I normally do.

I had one point seriously considering getting a new hobby. At these moments I want to passively absorb things less and actively do things more. Sports, playing an instrument, making models of stuff. That’s when I started the whole copying the dictionary thing to calm myself down. It was the easiest and cheapest thing available.

For a student of science I am not nearly as curious about things as I should.